4 ms·
Exactly. Why should corporations get off easy when we don't?
by sosodev 8y ago
Exactly. Why should corporations get off easy when we don't?
- aeorgnoieang 8y agoWhy shouldn't we all get off easy (or easier)?
- ocdtrekkie 8y agoBecause then, like corporations do, we won't correct our behavior, we'll just accept the punishment as an occasional cost.
- mfoy_ 8y agoImagine if the punishment for stealing was to be fined for 10% of the amount you stole. Like, you get to keep 90% of it. You'd rob a bank and then drop by the police station to drop off their cut just to avoid the hassle of "getting investigated" later. So obviously the punishment has to be worse than the value of doing it. But not 1:1 either, if you know you'll only catch 50% of robbers, then the fine would have to be something like ${amountStolen}*3 so that the equation makes the Expected return of robbery sharply negative. I.e. if you expect to get caught 50% of the time, and only had to return the money you stole when caught... then robbery would be very profitable. If you had to pay twice what you stole, then the Expected return is actually a wash, and wouldn't necessarily deter potential robbers. However if you have to pay a fine of 3x what you stole and you think you'll get caught 50% of the time then it's a money-losing venture. This is all ignoring jail time, of course, because no one can send Google to jail... so from the corporations point of view it just comes down to money.
- jquery 8y agoAt $1.5B, it's about collecting revenue to fund EU activities. It's far beyond the amount of revenue the infraction generated by order(s?) of magnitude, and was a gray area to boot. Keeping the taxes as "fines" ensures they can give EU companies favorable treatment. It's the definition of corrupt: "a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money"
- andrepd 8y ago>It's far beyond the amount of revenue the infraction generated by order(s?) of magnitude $1.5B is far below the amount of revenue Google got from advertising since 2006. I'm not sure what you mean by this.
- anticensor 8y agoIn European law, jail times and fines are multiplied by consecutive infringements to be punished. Meaning if you stole three times in a row and get caught after the third, you get sentenced three times the theft sentence.
- Consultant32452 8y agoI believe part of the purpose of corporations is to create an entity that is capable of doing "icky" things that might be unpalatable for a person to do, but need to be done nonetheless. Specific examples of "icky" things include building war weapons, producing/testing drugs that we know will kill some patients, performing tasks which create pollution which will kill people, etc. I want to be clear that I'm not proposing how anything should be, and am definitely not implying we should let corporations run amok. I'm just suggesting I believe we're lenient on the icky behaviors of corporations by design. It saves legislators from having to specifically carve out exceptions in the law to allow dangerous things things. Nobody wants their name next to something that sounds like, "XYZ is allowed to kill some people". Instead, they just try to corral them in when it gets to be "too much."
- esarbe 8y agoIf that's the case, that sounds like a good argument to not allow incorporation.
- Consultant32452 8y agoDo you have another suggestion for how to get icky things done which must be done?
- robin_reala 8y agoYour argument is predicated on the fact that ‘they must be done’. I disagree.
- Consultant32452 8y agoAlmost every meaningful human endeavor will result in some human deaths from time to time. A position of zero harm closely resembles a position of zero progress.
- Consultant32452 8y ago
- vnnkov 8y agoBecause we can't close corporations for a rules violation.
- wnevets 8y agoI mean we could
- leesalminen 8y agoKind of like how we could implement the death penalty for marijuana possession?
- wnevets 8y agoIt's not like there aren't countries where that exist.
- leesalminen 8y agoRight, but should we? Probably not. That’s what I’m getting at.
- wnevets 8y agoIf we really cared about stopping marijuana possession, a death penalty that was objectively and consistently applied would probably work very well.
- rhizome 8y agoArguments by analogy are not worth anybody's time.
- 1stcity3rdcoast 8y agoArguments by analogy are an excellent way to compose an argument. Socrates built entire ethical systems using analogy.
- everdev 8y agoCorporate law has lots of grey area, robbing a bank doesn't.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]